The never-ending saga continues over the number of flights allowed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and where those flights can serve.
A coalition of members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the local region yesterday issued a joint statement condemning a measure emanating in the U.S. Senate to permit five new daily round-trip flights at the airport.
The additional flights were included in the Senate version of the reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Signatories included Democrats Gerald Connolly, Don Beyer, Jennifer Wexton, Abigail Spanberger and Bobby Scott and Republican Rob Wittman from Virginia; Democrats Steny Hoyer, David Trone, Jamie Raskin and Glenn Ivey from Maryland; and Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting representative from the District of Columbia.
Their statement in full:
“National is home to the busiest runway in America. The airport is designed to serve 15 million passengers annually. Last year, it served 24 million. That is 9 million passengers, or 60 percent, over capacity. The airport has the third highest flight cancellation rate in the country, and one in every five flights is delayed by more than an hour. Just last week, two aircraft nearly collided in a frightening near-miss incident. Any additional flights that are added to DCA will worsen delays, exacerbate pilot and flight crew exhaustion, and risk the safety of flights in and out of National Airport. The House understood that when we resoundingly defeated an effort to add more flights last year. For the safety of all who fly in and out of our nation's capital, the Senate must change course. Safety, not convenience, must come first."
